Suddenly you could power an oil well from my facial secretions..

I've had it a few times before, I mainly notice it when I eat something I'm allergic to (I was allergic to fish which I obviously don't eat anymore), my skin just turns into an oil slick and my hair suddenly could use a wash every few hours. My doc said it happens sometimes, the physical stress of allergy can cause excess sebum production. I'm also covered in largish red acne-like spots all over my face, neck, chest and back (as when I used to eat too much fish).

So this leads me to think I'm allergic to some fruit. This would be catastrophic as we don't have much fruit available here, so to cut something out..I'm hoping someone will tell me it's likely not..so my question is..

I've also read that it could be related to low estrogen levels. Does anyone have any experience with this? Could my diet affect my estrogen? I'm on 8/1/1



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2007 10:35PM by badawie.

This is genetic.
It's not low estrogen, it's not even high androgens, but it's at least partially an extreme sensitivity to androgenics.

You can make slight changes in your sebum composition from your diet, but only starvation and hormone levels will significantly impact your sebum production.

Weather does to some extent: hot humid -> more sebum.

Accutane, the cis form of retinoic acid, a vitamin A acid, works. It will shrink your oil glands down to the size of a baby's for a couple of years.

Spironolactone also works, it's anti-androgenic.

So does Diane-35, and a handful of other anti-androgenic oral contraceptives.

thanks for the reply. I guess I just wish I could figure out the connection between the rash and the oiliness then. They seem to occur together.

unfortunately I can't take bc's. severe mood swings and migraines. have to rely on a clever little machine that measures my hormones and gives me a green or red light. also bc never actually helped the oiliness or rash in the past. I'm afraid it's looking like an allergy if it's not estrogen.

I've had oily skin my whole life until I went 100% raw about 3 months ago. After only one week the oil completely went away. I eat lots of fruits (mostly fruits actually), salads, green juice and limited oils, nuts and seeds w/salt. Now my complexion is awesome, but I've never delt w/rashes, so hopefully someone on this board can help you figure it out.

Good luck!

That;s really encouraging suzie! My oily skin and rash went away the moment I stopped eating fish, eggs and dairy and nuts (allergic to all!). I was still eating the "m" word and using quite a bit of oil, but my rash went away and my skin was perfect.

Oddly, the 3rd day on 8/1/1 I developed the rash and oiliness again. It didn't start when I went 70% raw or vegan. I don't think it's the diet (since I've had this before). I took an anti-histamine last night (I know I know, I'm desperate though. The 'acne-like' rash is leaving big ugly scars on my face and neck) and my rash is 50% better. "sigh" maybe there's a fruit that is somehow related to the group of foods I mentioned above, that I need to further eliminate. Soon I'll be sucking on rocks at mealtimes ;-)

Maybe you could try self-testing with kinesiology to see which fruits are good for you and which are bad. A kinesiology practitioner figured out that broccoli was bad for me and I loved it, but I feel much better without it.

Here are 3 different ways to self-test with kinesiology:

[www.perelandra-ltd.com]

[www.ladybarbara.net]

[www.mall-net.com]

Maybe you could check them all out and see which one feels right for you to try.

Good luck and this must be very frustrating for you.

[www.t-nation.com]
Check out this link. I believe it will cover most of your questions. You may not know it yet, but there is a lot to having great skin! Hope this helps.

click on the link on the main page "Skin Deep: Nutrition and Good Skin."

Did that link help?

Sorry, my internet was down for over a day so I just managed to log on now.

@brendan

Thanks for the link. I was a little confused when I saw the site, but I clicked on the link you told me to and everything was illuminated :-)

I thought it was very interesting. My mom's been telling me this stuff since I was a kid (when the rash first showed up - back then we thought I was allergic to ketchup!).

I'm not really keen to go through an elimination diet though since I'm already finding it hard to get my 1600 cals. Strawberries haven't been around the last few days and I still have the rash. Back to the drawing board.

@karennd
thanks for the links, I'm about to check them out.

and thanks to both of you for taking the time to post the links!

Thanks for the links karennd. I just don't quite believe in kinesiology testing. I've so many so called alternative (ie non mainstream) treatments, all I've done is empty my bank account. I spent a couple of thousand on that bio feedback, boy did they see my coming. Since that particular one, I research and research and research. I'm a big believer that the most effective aspect of these treatments is the placebo effect/wanting to believe..

If it works for people then great. My experience and research on iridology came to similar conclusions.

Nope, think I'm going to have to go on an old fashioned exclusion diet. I've ruled out strawberry and pineapple already (yay!). I wonder if it might be sesame seeds..I'm allergic to nuts, I think they may be related.

One reason I suggested the kinesiology self-test is that it would at least be free. ;-)

Kinesiology testing doesn't always work when a practitioner performs it, btw, because their beliefs can interfere with the testing. If they make money from and believe in the supplements they sell, then those will test as positive and the ones you bring in will test as negative. I always have my vet kinesiology test my cat and dog for their food and supplements and it always seems right on.

But I definitely understand your reservations. I have wasted some money on some alternatives also. But then a lot of people waste money on drugs that end up killing them or making them sicker.

The exclusion diet is definitely a good way to go. It could be the sesame seeds, I myself tested as allergic to them last time I had a IgG food allergy blood test - which is also another way to go but the exclusion diet would save the money of a test. You know to wait a few days to reintroduce a food and then wait a few days before reintroducing the next food, right? Symptoms can take up to 2 or 3 days to manifest.

Good luck on figuring this out.

Some non-organic, GM fruits -which genetic material was modified with fish genes- causes the same allergy as eating fish. Do you eat 100% organic fruits? This could be the reason behind your simptoms.

@karennd
lol! you are so right..the placebo effect argument goes right out the window with pets! I was actually thinking of going for the test..but the one I had as a child was completely inconclusive. It's weird, the oil has gone now, but I have tiny little spots all over and some really big red ugly boil-like ones. I look scary!

@mosaica
There's no organic fruit where I live. I think it's all imported from france and syria. I have to eat what I can get. Only organic fruit right now is watermelon and it's way too sweet to eat all the time.

I have no idea if what we get out here is GM, but that's a great point. I am sooooo allergic to fish I didn't even think of that. I once tried asking someone at the supermarket and they had no idea what GM even was so I gave up after talking to the manager (not as health conscious here or as well educated in health matters as in the states!). But are GM fruits more expensive? If they are I don't think we're getting them here. We're experiencing massive inflation and suffering from the decline of the dollar (aren't we all!) to which our currency is pegged (for better or worse!).

You know, now it sounds like you could be detoxing - which is great in the long run! But not fun right now.

I am 39, and about 5 years ago I had a bout of extremely oily skin (my skin is oily anyway, but this was ridiculous), and it turned out to be ovarian cysts, which losing a bit of weight seemed to clear up. BTW you don't have to be overweight to have OCs.

I'm glad someone finally suggested that perhaps this persons skin condition came back as a part of the detox they are undergoing since starting 80/10/10. That seems to be the obvious conclusion here, not an allergy to a fruit or genetics! When first going on such a cleansing diet, this sort of reaction is normal; and 8/1/1 is a lot more cleansing than 70% raw is. If that is the case, your skin will clear up again once it is done expelling whatever toxins it is at the moment.

A cyst I had apparently had for quite some time suddenly burst after one week of 8/1/1 (no complications). I was told I had pcos when I was 16, but by the age of 21 it was gone. I am incidentally overweight right now..but no cysts anymore.

Re the detox, I would agree that's what it is, except, can I have been in detox since the first incidence of this when I was 6 years old? I find it odd, given that I have allergies, that I would have exactly the same rash during detox and have it not be attributed in any way to allergies I have had since childhood.

I would LOVE to think it was detox and nothing more, but I feel that too many symptoms are attributed to detox at times. I've spent most of my life eating fruit for breakfast and lunch, so my body is pretty used to the good life!

But yes, I did experience a major detox in the form of a cyst bursting, extreme tiredness, dizziness, confusion, low blood pressure, moodiness, I attribute all of these to detox as I did not have them before. I do not attribute the rash to the detox since I have had it since childhood.

At least it looks like I'm not allergic to pineapple or strawberry (yay!). It looks like it may have been the zaatar (sesame seed/ground thyme) I've been having every day to make sure I get my iron..

When we are young our bodies are usually more vital than they are after we get older (due to bad diet and environmental toxins, etc). That's one reason kids have more skin conditions like eczema and acne. Many kids with eczema grow out of it and then it is fairly common for them to develop asthma. The body became less vital and gave up on getting rid of toxins through the skin, so symptoms got suppressed deeper in the body and thus asthma develops. The body's ultimate goal is survival and it does the best it can with the energy and tools it has. Don't know if this applies in your situation since your rash when you were young was attributed to allergies - which is due to an overstimulated immune system.

It is possible that you are still experiencing food allergies and an elimination diet is the surest way to pinpoint that. It is also possible that your body is retracing previous problems and healing them. So, it could still possibly be detox. This often happens with detox as our body retraces previous diseases or injuries and heals them. On man had twisted his ankle 20 years before and once he started juicing, his ankle turned black and blue (didn't hurt) and completed the healing that it had not been able to do because of not having the proper tools to carry it out.

Just my 2 cents and I could be wrong. ;-)

way back when I was raw vegan I got oily skin. I put alot of oil on my salads , I am pretty sure that is it. I eat only fruit these days, and I have smooth shiny tight pored skin

Thanks Karen. I hope that's what it is..I really really do. People keep commenting on the rash, it's making me really self conscious.

I just found out today about a rare allergy to black Mediterranean olives..which is the only food I've added to my diet since starting 8/1/1 (my hair was falling out and I can't find flax seeds here, so I thought 10 olives a day would be ok during transition phase in case it was lack of omegas).

I'm thinking of spending the cash to investigate (allergy tests). Olives I can live without, but not fruit!

Been reading about the elimination diet (as you mention karen), not sure about doing it unsupervised. With my already limited fruit diet I'm a bit worried..ouch! my face hurts..I am such a wuss! Just really annoyed because I am finally feeling fantastic but everyone keeps trying to convince me my diet must be bad for me because of the horrible boils and spots everywhere. I must admit, it gets harder to stay committed with every new spot :-(

That must be so tough and you are not a wuss, that's for sure. You have stuck it out longer than most people would.

Maybe it is the black olives. Can you get hemp seeds? They are a good source of Omega 3 and protein.

Oh my, your hair was falling out too? That's upsetting.

I found this:

• A variety of factors affect hair loss. Minerals and vitamins are also important for hair growth. Take a good supplement at least twice a day. Drink fresh vegetable juice at least once a day. Take vitamin A (50,000 units daily). Several B vitamins especially affect hair growth and color. Eat sea kelp or dulse. biotin, inositol, niacin, vitamin E, and PABA are also important.

If you do look into allergy tests, check out the IgG blood allergy tests as well as the IgE tests and make sure you get the one you need.

Are you including greens in your diet? I was reading a posting to someone else about acne and green smoothies has helped her son's acne and I thought greens might be what your body is missing.

And since the above information I found recommended vegetable juice for hair loss, I also remember that a holistic doctor I know said 4 ounces of fresh vegetable juice a day cleared up his acne when he was a teenager. I know you don't have acne, but fresh vegetable juice does a lot of great things.

Maybe you should consider a checkup at a holistic doctor. It might reassure your friends and yourself and he/she might have suggestions. There is something called a Spectracell blood test (I plan on doing it soon and it's not very expensive at all) that checks all your vitamin levels.

Anyway, just brainstorming here and hope something helps. I really feel for you. Good luck and keep us posted on how you are doing.

Karen, thanks so much for the stream of ideas and support, it really means a lot!

The hair loss pretty much stopped now, but I will try the vitamins you recommend to make sure it doesn't start again (at least till I muddle my way through how to get it all from food).

I have added greens to my diet. Quite a bit. I wasn't in the beginning since it wasn't in the 8/1/1 book (the only one I have, can't buy raw food books here, had it brought from the states). But I then found out Dr D recommends greens as well.

I am making little green smoothies mainly for the nutrients, didn't know they were good for acne. I love eating heads of lettuce like apples! My fiance say I look like a giant bunny rabbit :-) I've stopped for now, just the pineapple since I'm quite sure I'm not reacting to it.. So I'll give it a week then start adding things, including greens, back in.

Unfortunately there are no holistic doctors here..they don't even sell aromatherapy or homeopathic medicines. It's surprisingly not big in the middle east..you do get some plant extracts from dubious origins..

I just rang the doc for the IgG and IgE tests, he said we'll decide when I go see him next week. Today my face looks quite a bit better.

I'm interested to hear how your Spetracell blood test goes! Thanks again

I am so glad that your hair is not falling out anymore. Also, that is wonderful that you face looks a lot better. Maybe you are past the worst of it.

I just wanted to let you know I am not recommending all those supplements. I just saw that on the web and thought it was interesting and might help you think of something that was missing in your diet perhaps. But, unlike some others, I do believe in some supplements especially at first while you are transitioning.

Let us know how it goes with the doctor and the allergy tests and what happens when you add the greens back in.

I will post on my journal in the raw diary section when I do the Spectracell test and find out the results. My next test is fasting blood labs tomorrow morning and sometime next week I will find out how well 3 1/2 months raw have helped some of my numbers - A1C, cholesterol, etc.

We can do this - achieve better health through our raw diet!